Importance of drawing lines between business and politics

Democracy is very important to develop business and such a measure would also facilitate the process towards achieving peace, said a top German chamber official

Dr Karl Jurgen Wilbert, Chief Executive Director, from Handwerkskammer, Koblenz, Germany, told a Colombo audience that one cannot have self governance without democracy. “People can come together when there is freedom. Democracy should be there with human dignity and values,” he said speaking on the theme “Contribution of Business Organizations to Peace and Reconstruction; Experience of a German Chamber on the Balkans” at the recent 13th Business for Peace Forum of the Business for Peace Initiative of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Wilbert said the government at every level should talk to the business community and there should be freedom to access the economy. He said that in Germany the Economic Minister is a very good friend of his, however on various issues there have been law suits against the minister and he has won all the cases.

He said craftsmen play a very important role in the economy, here in Germany and other countries. Markets have to be found for products and to bring companies to the markets and to find more access for enterprises. Eastern European countries are currently following a policy of privatization of government companies.

He said there is a major difference between Germany and the Anglo American point of view on this matter as they consider the production process concentrated on the business, but in the case of Germany it is the individual person. Germany is now assuming the production process as in the globalized world they qualify and certify production process.